Ford sells Sandusky parts plant

Ford Motor Co. has agreed to sell a former Visteon plant in Sandusky to a Meridian Automotive Systems, a Michigan-based parts company.

The 1,000-job Sandusky plant is one of 17 facilities Ford bought from Visteon in 2005 in hopes of keeping its former parts division out of bankruptcy court. Ford announced plans last year to close or sell all the former Visteon plants by the end of 2008.

Ford has announced agreements to sell several former Visteon plants and has completed one such transaction.

The Sandusky plant makes plastic parts such as headlight and taillight enclosures. Meridian has focused in recent years on making front-end and rear-end modules that include lights, enclosures, wiring and other components.

Ford spokeswoman Della DiPietro said if the deal goes through, Ford will guarantee certain levels of work for the Sandusky plant. About 60 percent of Ford's vehicles use Sandusky-built headlight and taillight enclosures.

The deal is contingent on Meridian being able to work out a deal with the United Auto Workers Local 1216. Union officials said they expect to meet with Meridian Wednesday morning to discuss terms.

"There will be several Town Hall meetings at the plant," said Paul Trapp, skilled trades chairman at the plant for the union.

Union leaders for existing Meridian facilities said the supplier pays well for the parts business (about $14-$18 per hour) but well below the $20 and higher wages typically paid to Ford and Visteon workers.

Meridian officials did not return calls Tuesday.

Don Riger, staff representative for the IUE-CWA's Region 8 in Michigan, has negotiated with Meridian at three locations.

"Our relationship is one of mutual respect," Riger said, adding that there has never been a lockout or a strike at Meridian.

Last year, as Meridian was going through Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, "The company did not approach any of our locals about concessions."

But at the company's only Ohio plant in Jackson, south of Columbus, negotiations with the United Steelworkers broke down last year when the company asked for wage cuts and for workers to increase the amount they pay for health insurance.

The company locked out its union workers, and the Steelworkers encouraged Meridian's customers to stop buying parts from the company.

Ford spun off Visteon, once the company's internal parts division, in 2000. The hope was that the parts business would be profitable if companies could make the same components for several different automakers.

But operating costs were too high at Visteon and at Delphi (General Motors' former parts division), and the companies struggled to find work outside of their former parents.

Under union contracts, Ford and GM still had some responsibility to their former workers, so both have had to bail out the failing parts businesses in recent years.

Ford's purchase of several Visteon plants and the UAW's decision to allow the company to pay new hires less than existing workers have kept that company out of bankruptcy.

Delphi filed Chapter 11 last year and has been fighting with the UAW ever since about concessions.